Mastering Verb Tenses for the NEW Digital SAT

Today, we're covering verb tenses. Don't worry, it's not as scary as it sounds. In fact, once you get the hang of it, you'll be writing like a pro in no time!

The Golden Rule of Verb Tenses

When you're tackling questions about verb tenses, remember this: context is king. Sometimes, you might see several options that look good on their own, but only one will fit perfectly in the passage. It's like finding the right piece in a puzzle!

Let's look at an example to see how this works in action:

Now, if you looked at this sentence all by itself, you might think, "Hey, all of these could work!" And you'd be right... sort of. But remember our golden rule: context is key.

Let's put on our detective hats and look at the surrounding sentences. We see words like "is," "belongs," and "grow." What do you notice? They're all hanging out in the present tense! So, our mystery verb needs to join the present tense party too.

The correct answer is... drumroll, please... "is"!

The Two-Tense Tango

Sometimes, you might need to use two different tenses in one sentence. When this happens, make sure each part of the sentence has its own verb that matches the right tense. Let's look at an example:

See how we fixed that? We gave each part of the sentence its own verb in the right tense. It's like making sure both dancers know the right steps in a tango!

Verb Tense Notes Continued

A. Present Progressive

Present progressive = is/are + -ing, e.g., she is painting, they are doing, it is growing

This tense is used to emphasize that an action is happening right at the moment. It can be considered parallel to a verb in the simple (no -ing) present. For example:

B. Present Perfect

Present perfect = has/have + past participle, e.g., has painted, has done, have grown

- Usually formed by adding -ed to the verb. (For common irregular past participles, see p. 134.)

- Used for actions that began in the past and that are continuing into the present.

- Most important irregular verb = to be, which becomes has been (sing.) and have been (pl.).

The words for, since, over, and during usually act as tip-offs that the present perfect is required.

The present perfect is also commonly used to describe an action that occurred very recently.

Note that questions involving the present perfect are likely to depend only on the sentence in which they appear. For example:

C. Simple Past

Simple past = verb + -ed, e.g., talked, played, painted

- Describes a finished action in the past.

- Usually identical to the past participle, e.g., she has walked and she walked. For a list of common irregular past participles, see p. 134.

- Most important irregular verb = to be, which becomes was (sing.) and were (pl.).

Dates and time periods are usually tip-offs that the simple past is required.

D. Past Perfect

Past perfect = had + past participle, e.g., had painted, had done, had grown

- When a sentence refers to two finished actions, the past perfect is used to describe only the action that happened first.

Important: the phrase by the time is a tip-off that the past perfect is required. For example:

Irregular Verbs

• Irregular past participles often end in -en, -own, -ung, or -unk.
• Irregular simple past forms often end in -ew, -ang, or -ank.

Infinitive	Simple Past	Past Participle
To (a)rise	(A)rose	(A)risen
To (a)waken	(A)woke	(A)woken
To be	Was	Been
To become	Became	Become
To begin	Began	Begun
To blow	Blew	Blown
To break	Broke	Broken
To choose	Chose	Chosen
To do	Did	Done
To draw	Drew	Drawn
To drink	Drank	Drunk
To drive	Drove	Driven
To fly	Flew	Flown
To freeze	Froze	Frozen
To get	Got	Gotten*
To go	Went	Gone
To hide	Hid	Hidden
To give	Gave	Given
To grow	Grew	Grown
To know	Knew	Known
To ride	Rode	Ridden
To ring	Rang	Rung
To run	Ran	Run
To see	Saw	Seen
To sew	Sewed	Sewn
To shrink	Shrank	Shrunk(en)
To sing	Sang	Sung
To sink	Sank	Sunk(en)
To speak	Spoke	Spoken
To spring	Sprang	Sprung
To steal	Stole	Stolen
To stink	Stank	Stunk
To swim	Swam	Swum
To take	Took	Taken
To tear	Tore	Torn
To throw	Threw	Thrown
To wear	Wore	Worn
To write	Wrote	Written

*Note to students who have attended school in the British system: Although "got" is used as the past participle of "get" in British English, "gotten" is standard in American English.

Would vs. Will and Would Have vs. Will Have Usage

E. Would vs. Will

Future = will + verb

The future is used to describe actions that have not yet occurred but that will definitely occur, and to indicate predictions, suggestions, and hopes.

Conditional = would + verb

Would is used to describe hypothetical situations: ones that could or might occur but have not actually occurred.

Would + verb can also refer to a recurring action in the past.

Finally, would can be used to refer to an action that, from the perspective of the past, has not yet occurred even if, from today's perspective, that action occurred long ago.

Shortcut: would, not will, should generally be used in sentences that include a date in the past.

F. Would Have vs. Will Have

In the paper version of the SAT, answers with would have and will have have traditionally been incorrect, but it is nevertheless useful to have a basic understanding of how these tenses are used.

Past conditional = would have + verb

Would have is used to describe an action that could have happened, but that did not actually occur. The most important thing to know about this tense is that would have + past participle should not appear in a clause begun by if, although this construction can appear in the same sentence.

Future perfect = will have + verb

Will have is used to describe a future action that will be finished before a second action occurs. As is true for the past perfect, this tense is often associated with the phrase by the time.

Passive Voice and To vs. -ING Forms

Passive Voice

In a passive construction, the subject and the object are flipped. X does y (active) becomes y is done by x (passive). Note that the construction by combined with a form of to be often signals the passive voice.

Active	Passive
Leonardo da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa.	The Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo da Vinci.

Although the passive voice should not be a major concern, you should be aware that it has a tendency to create wordy and awkward constructions likely to signal incorrect answers. Assuming that there is no additional error involved, if you are trying to decide between an answer with an active construction and an answer with a passive one, you can assume that the active option will be right.

To vs. -ING

Finally, it is possible that you will encounter questions asking you to identify whether the "to" (infinitive) or "-ing" (gerund) form of a verb is correct.

Unfortunately, there is no rule or "trick" for these questions—you must simply be able to hear which version is correct. These questions are likely to appear very infrequently and should not be a major cause for concern; however, based on the practice material released by the College Board, they do appear to be fair game for the digital test.

When a "to" form is replaced with an "-ing" form, a preposition must often be placed before the "-ing" form. For example:

Note: when both the "to" and "-ing" forms are acceptable, you will not be asked to choose between them.

For the sake of thoroughness, an extended list of expressions requiring "to" and "-ing" forms is included on the following page. To be clear, however, even if English is not your first language, I do not advocate spending long periods of time trying to memorize it. The chance that you will encounter one of these questions is sufficiently small that you should not worry about them until you are consistently answering every other type of question correctly.

Infinitive and Gerund Forms List

Infinitive ("to")	Gerund ("-ing")
Agree to be	Accused of being
Allow to be	Accustomed to being
Appear/seem to be	Admired for being
Arrange to be	Admit to being
Aspire to be	Advocate being
Attempt to be	After being
Cease to be	Avoid being
Choose to be	Banned from being
Claim to be	Before being
Consider to be	Consider being
Decide to be	Deny being
Decline to be	Describe being
Deserve to be	Discuss being
Encourage to be	Effective in/at being
Expect to be	Enjoy being
Fail to be	Famous for being
Have the ability to be	Imagine being
Inclined to be	In charge of being
Inspire (someone) to be	In the hope(s) of being
Intend to be	(In)capable of being
Known to be (+ noun)	Insist on being
Manage to be	Known as/for being
Neglect to be	Mind being
Offer to be	Postpone being
Prepare to be	Praised for being
Promise to be	Prevent from being
Refuse to be	Regarded as being
Reluctant to be	Report being
Require to be	Resent being
Seek/strive to be	Risk being
Shown to be	Seen as being
Struggle to be	Stop being
Tend to be	Succeed in/at being
Threaten to be	Used to being
Want to be	Viewed as being
Wish to be	Without being